Matt Cooke gets 10 games plus first playoff round; forfeits $219G

Nick Kypreos of Sportnet, ex-player, tweets that the NHL suspended Matt Cooke for the rest of the regular season (10 games) plus the first round of the playoffs for his cheap-shot elbow to Rangers rookie Ryan McDonagh Sunday in Pittsburgh.

UPDATE: That has now been comfirmed! (The official announcement from the NHL is below).

The NHL had no choice, really. This was a crossroads decision. With all the blabbering all week long following the GM meetings, all season long with regards to a rule (albeit one, until now, without teeth) about headshots … with Cooke’s teammate and captain Sid The Skid Crosby out with a concussion … with Mario Lemieux’s public, hypocritical whining … and with all the damage that Cooke has managed to this season and last …

Well, Cooke just put this decision right up there on a platter for NHL HQ.

In my opinion, Cooke’s recent body (and head) of work — ending Marc Savard’s career, going after Alex Ovechkin’s knee, Artem Anisimov’s head, Chris Drury, Fedor Tyutin (his most recent suspension, last month) — is worse, far worse, than Dale Hunter’s single moment of brainlessness, the cheap shot on Pierre Turgeon in the 1993 playoffs that earned a 21-game ban from Gary Bettman. How does Cooke, repeat offender, intent-to-injure specialist, not get at least that? I guess you could argue that potentially seven playoff games and 10 season games is greater than 21 regular-season games (though players don’t lose pay if suspended for playoff games).

Because the league had become wimpy, wimpy, wimpy on this issue. It was waiting for its next Todd Bertuzzi/Marty McSorley moment. It was encouraging the Trevor “Village People” Gillies of the world to get their revenge. It kept allowing Cooke to wreck seasons and careers after sitting in the classroom corner for a quick timeout.

This was time to put the whole sport on notice, and the NHL didn’t whiff, this time. Good job.

By going after McDonagh’s head, when he had every opportunity to deliver a clean hit, or a borderline late hit and clearly chose the elbow-to-head shot, Cooke was laughing at the NHL’s justice system and the game’s very public attempts to remove such flagrant cheapshots. By, time after time, taking shots aimed at inflicting injury, Cooke has quite clearly shown that such actions are not only predatory and repetitious, but also premeditated.

PENGUINS’ COOKE SUSPENDED FOR REMAINDER OF REGULAR SEASON AND FIRST ROUND OF STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

TORONTO (March 21, 2011) — Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cooke has been suspended for the remainder of the regular season (10 games) and the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for delivering an elbow to the head of New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh in NHL game #1080 yesterday, the National Hockey League announced today. Cooke will forfeit $219,512.20 in salary.

“Mr. Cooke, a repeat offender, directly and unnecessarily targeted the head of an opponent who was in an unsuspecting and vulnerable position,” said NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell. “This isn’t the first time this season that we have had to address dangerous behavior on the ice by Mr. Cooke, and his conduct requires an appropriately harsh response.”

Cooke’s most recent suspension was for four games on Feb. 9, 2011 and under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement forfeits his salary based on the number of games in the season (82), rather than the number of days (186). The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

The incident occurred at 4:36 of the third period and Cooke was assessed a major penalty for elbowing and a game misconduct.

Cooke will miss Pittsburgh’s remaining 10 regular-season games and be ineligible for the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

glad that they gave him more than 10.
of course
we’re all still waiting for mario’s letter on the situation
or if he’ll show that he’s against these type of shots
by doing something else as well — strip him of A, further suspension, contract buyout….

Thanks, Doodie. Horrible news about Manny. Sounds like traumatic retinal detachment. Depending on the surface area affected, it could mean end of career and long term issues. I hope not. Classy young man.

Very well said, Carp.
It sounds about right. I predicted rest of the season and playoffs, but I’m OK with first round. Not ready to applaud to NHL yet until they show it on consistent terms. This time, they didn’t have a choice.

Let’s see if Mario puts his money where his whiney mouth is. Time for the Penguins to cut ties with Cooke and take the cap hit by buying him out, or bury him in the AHL for the remainder of his contract. Anything less, and we’ll see Mario’s true colors.

The Mao Zedongs announce the sending of Tiki the Troublemaker to their affiliate team on the island of dr. Mureau joining minor league journeyman, but major league wanker, Olga. Together they are expected work on their behavior in hopes of returning to the big team.

I am more interested in what Mr Hypocrite is going to say. Mary-o probably will say nothing public, or will mouth the company line that Shero and Bylsma have altready taken, which is that if Cooke is costing them games like he did yesterday, then they don’t support him.

“The suspension is warranted because that’s exactly the kind of hit we’re trying to get out of the game. Head shots have no place in hockey. We’ve told Matt in no uncertain terms that this kind of action on the ice is unacceptable and cannot happen. Head shots must be dealt with severely, and the Pittsburgh Penguins support the NHL in sending this very strong message.”

Carp, this is why you’re one of the best in the biz:
“By going after McDonagh’s head, when he had every opportunity to deliver a clean hit, or a borderline late hit and clearly chose the elbow-to-head shot, Cooke was laughing at the NHL’s justice system and the game’s very public attempts to remove such flagrant cheapshots. By, time after time, taking shots aimed at inflicting injury, Cooke has quite clearly shown that such actions are not only predatory and repetitious, but also premeditated.”

As for the league announcement: “This isn’t the first time this season that we have had to address dangerous behavior on the ice by Mr. Cooke, and his conduct requires an appropriately harsh response.”

hello! may he should have been treated harshly before the umpteeenth player got taken out.
Whoever gets the Pens in the first round, beat their beaks!!!!!

rather than ride shotgun for your stars, guys like Cooke actually make them more a target because teams will want to extract vengeance for Cook’s dirty hits, not only on him, but more so on his star teammates. and that has certainly happened. thus, the Pens have realized now,way too late, and way too hypocritical for way too long, that Cooke’s antics were hurting them in several ways, including putting their star players at risk. so they put out a statement that was expected and where they had painted themselves by their owner’s yapping.

I really have Manny Malhotra in my heart. I watched the guy get drafted as a really young kid (him and Myself) and I NEVER would want to see ANYBODY (including matt cooke!) go down from a horrific eye injury such as this. I really hope he can get back to playing within the next year(s).

On a side note, screw Cooke and he is a piece of carcillo who deserved the book. Penguins will have a LOT of trouble on the PK without him.

According to the NHL suspension (apart from anything additional the team may assess) is Cooke banned from practice and attending (in the press box) Pittsburgh home games? I assume he won’t travel with the team.

Yeah, Manny was a good Ranger, benched and humilated publicly by Idiote Grande – Muckler, but with better perspective IMO, than Ruchinsky or Lyashenko, Rangers got from Dallas in 2002 trade for him and another kid. It is very sad what hapened to him. There is concern about “possibly permanent vision” damage from his brother-in-law–Steve Nash. I don’t know, what kind of operation he underwent the very night it happened, but hope it is not an orbital blowout fracture (a broken bone under the eyeball), a ruptured globe (broken eyeball) or detached retina (the part of the eye that is sensitive to light and helps you see). I just wish to this tough kid all the best.

In fact, a lot of past “severe” suspensions seem kind of harsh in comparison. I’m actually not reacting emotionally on this, as everybody knew that this would in fact give at least the rest of the season, what is more interesting is to compare this to Hunter, Chris Simon, Avery et al. I mean, you could argue that when isolating the Simon/Hollweg incident it is in fact “worse”, but then you look at Cookes track record and you just go; wow. This guy has some serious issues. I mean, something is wrong with him, psychologically. And I donät mean it as a joke, it’s sad, really.

And then you look at the Pittsburgh team that, say what you want, plays with a lot of heart and has some talent, and you think; wow. They must really hate him. I mean how could you not? The whole organization has turned into a laughing-stock like none other, now that the Isles is starting to resemble a hockey team.

The only way Lemieux/Bylsma can establish some sort of credibillity after this debacle is to scratch Cooke after the suspension and buy him out this summer. That would be putting your money where your mouth is.

And no. Cooke will not be a Ranger, on account of his hockey abillities if nothing else. He does’nt fit in more ways than one.

Tiki
yeah, technically he’s a human being with cells and blood running through his veins
etc etc etc
but
on the other hand he is as i’ve described him a human puke
who flagrantly aims to cause the end to people’s careers and
put a major dent in their non-hockey lives.
Carp
listed at least a half dozen instances of what cooke=human puke
has done
and an easy google search will find lots more chronicled.

Cooke will play for the pens, or someone else. just look at the criminal Bertuzzi, who now plays in Det and is treated by them as if he is a great man and player and role model. pathetic. so don’t anybody try to hand us that crap that Det does not use goons. they have the worst one of all.

It’s reported that in response to the Cooke suspension, Mario Lemieux is asking the league to look back to the Rangers/Penguins game on December 15th 2010 saying that, “We have isolated the incident responsible for Sidney Crosby’s concussion. This incident should be dealt with immediately by the league before it’s allowed to happen again.”

The incident in question occurred during the 2nd period when Rangers’ forward Brandon Prust apparently momentarily glanced at Penguins star center Sidney Crosby.

Lemieux added, “Clearly, this type of play should be dealt with in a swift and severe manner that is consistent with the NHL’s rules on head-shots.”

Interesting pre-game presser by Bylsma on the Penguins site. Very uncomfortable. Obviously he is saying everything a coach have to, but you can almost tell that he feels cornered by Lemieux. Cooke is Le grand Douche obviously, but jeez, what an idiot Mario has been. He needs to step up right away. I mean is this one idiot worth pissing away your legacy for? Time to walk the walk Mr. Lemieux.

btw,
surprised that the pens didn’t put something in there about cindy.
btw2
don’t play the drinking game of downing a shot each time the
versus guys mention cindy when discussing concussions tonight or
you’re not going to make it to your bed.

Alex,
“A” – post. Kudos. Guy is real psychotic in medical terms. Watching numerous video of his “heroics”, came to the same conclusion – he is always calculated before and cold after, very predatory looking for a prey’s vulnerable position and BTW, totally lost in any real hits, fights and tough situations of opposition, not created by him. Not for an excuse, but for comparison – Simon was absolutely mad (what lawyers call temporary insanity) in Hollwege case.

I actually think Cooke, if he can just pull it back to borderline stuff, is a very valuable player. And I think Sather — who likes second-chance guys — might give him a shot of he was available and cheap. He has that jam, is a much better player than, for example, Avery … just sayin.’

Also, to their credit, the Penguins addressed their displeasure with the way Cooke plays immediately after the game Sunday, Bylsma front and center, and Mario reportedly in a meeting with the piece of cooke later on.

yeah, but it took them losing Crosby to come to the “oh, stop those head shots” stance. More like they were dragged kicking and screaming by reality to the party after their boy hospitalized numerous players for years with their full backing and tsk tsk public phoniness.

Carp,
you’re very cruel, insulting Avery fanatic lovers with your comparison…
As for Manny…I kind of liked him very much and believed in his future, which now is really under big question…Couldn’t find more medical details about his condition. The worst case scenario, of course, would be enucleation or evisceration (surgical removal of the entire eye or the contents of the eye), but I don’t want to even think about it . So sad.

All, I admit to being out of the loop today, with work and all, but Carp, really….and I always agree with you cause I love and admire you. But:
“Also, to their credit, the Penguins addressed their displeasure with the way Cooke plays immediately after the game Sunday.”

I just had at 3pm what I thought was a productive 1 hour visit with my doctor which included ignoring those who attempt to irritate me and NYers that lack loyalty and class. I thought I could put his words to action.

So, my only response is AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pens could have addressed it by not signing cooke to 3 year deal
or not giving him the “A”
or
making a statement earlier in the year after his hits on
Artie or Ovi
or
mario not making that HIGHLY hypocritical statement
when his guy was hurt accidentally.

the pens had NO choice yesterday. it was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too obvious
and on national tv and after so much talk before and after gm meetings
about head shots.

besides
don’t care that mario “met” with cooke
probably just to chew him out for making him look bad.
where’s his statement about this? where’s his suspension of cooke=human puke
or saying that he’s going to terminate the contract over the summer
in order to show that he backs up what he says.
oh yeah,
he’s an owner in the same way he was a player.
lack of class.

I hope that this suspension is enough to get the attention of other players who fall into the ‘Predator’ category.

However I have a problem with the NHL’s official announcement on this ruling. They state “Mr. Cooke, a repeat offender, directly and unnecessarily targeted the head of an opponent who was in an unsuspecting and vulnerable position.”

So the victim has to be unsuspecting and in a vulnerable position in order for an asshat to be guilty of violating the ‘No Head’ rule? Sounds like the league is trying to make the victim a culpable part of the crime. So if you’re standing up straight, not bent over looking down at the ice, and someone hits you in the head the perpetrator isn’t at fault? Also, is there ever a circumstance when it’s ‘necessary’ to hit someone in the head? The language in their announcement is disturbing.

I absolutely agree with everyone who said that Pittsburgh should have addressed the problem earlier, and now I’m going to have to listen to the garbage of how great the organization is for keeping its word and doing what was practically required of it at this point.

Besides that rape (he pleaded guilty), Billy Tibbets couldn’t stay for more than a few weeks in any league after he left NHL. He was suspended for on ice antics, including head shots etc., in every imaginable league he played, including Europe. The guy is a sociopath.

In 1994 Tibbetts pled guilty to raping a 15 year old girl in 1992, when he was 17 years old.[24] His sentence was suspended for 3.5 years. However, in 1995 Tibbetts was convicted of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct and witness intimidation.[25][26] As a result, he served 39 months in prison.[27]

In addition, Tibbetts was also arrested in August 2007 for leading police on a high-speed car chase, not long after having led police on a different high speed chase earlier in 2007.[28][29]

i probably have more of a major problem with the pens
and better knowledge of the crap that’s gone on
over the years due to my location

before the center ice and nhl had a contract
i was stuck scouting around various locales to watch Ranger games on
satellite tv
or stuck watching pens games only.

still scarred from those days!
but
one good thing that did come out of it
i became friends with Tom Reed (and several other Rangers locals) who used to live
around here and now covers the bluejackets for the Dispatch

while i wish mario a long and healthy life (free from cancer)
when he came back (and even before he went out for treatment)
i watched as team after team kept at least a stick length distance from
him and NEVER touched him.
that changed during the playoffs, especially against the isles or
others who would shadow him or push around and get him off his game
but
that’s NEVER happened with ANY other player coming back from
a serious situation, whether it be Koivu’s cancer scare or Savard’s concussion,
just to name a few.

“Tibbetts was 17 at the time, living with his affluent family in Massachusetts. The girl got drunk at a party and passed out. She was taken behind a warehouse and sexually assaulted.

Tibbetts was charged with three counts of statutory rape — the victim was alleged to have been raped three different ways — and pleaded guilty to one count. The judge gave him a suspended sentence. Sixteen months later, he shot someone with a BB gun and wound up doing 39 months behind bars.”

remember when girardi looked at bing crosby, and gave a slight push?…hank went over and said something…dubi gave him a nice talking to…..what a baby….i mentioned on the previous blog that the perfect league penalty was 5 hrs in a locked room with evander kane….

mad skills by El Sid… I don’t think any of us relish CIndy being hurt. In fact, we want him on the Penguins, so our Rangers can beat them with their full team. We are not Bostonians, willing to win by an means necessary. We are New Yorkers. We do everything classier. While those idiots from Boston drink stale 4 day old beer, we drink Champagne from the finest grapes that the great nation of France has to offer. SO STFU that NYers aren’t loyal…we just busy doing other more classy things, and not at the bowling alley stuffing our faces with french fries with our Tom Brady jerseys and Boston Celtics wristbands.

Hmmmmm….speaking of pieces of carcillo…remember good old Mario LaPeux pal, Kevin Stevens? He made his career out of being a hard nosed, dirty player…

Jeez, his whole life is pretty much one big clutterbuck! I’m sorry that he ever donned the NYR blue. Guys like him would never last in today’s NHL.

Hey, isn’t it a coincidence that Steven’s deteriorating play in the mid-late 90s had nothing to with Mario Lemieux’s growing absence due to injuries and illness? (cough…sarcasm…cough)

What a piece of carcillo…

“…Suspended by NHL for one game during 1992-93 season (automatic suspension) for receiving his third game misconduct of season during Pittsburgh’s March 9, 1993, game vs. Boston.”

(AND YOU HAD TO DO A LOT MORE THAN ELBOW A GUY TO GET A GAME MISCONDUCT BACK THEN!)

“Stevens made national headlines for all the wrong reasons in the 1999-00 season when he was arrested in a suburban St. Louis motel room, where police found him in possession of crack cocaine and $3,000 cash, as well as in the company of a prostitute named Pamela Velia. The arrest took place in the early morning hours of Jan. 23, 2000, following the N.Y. Rangers’ Jan. 22, 2000, game at St. Louis.”

Just watched the replay on Manny Malhotra and it is upsetting-reminds me of Walt Tkaczuk’s eye injury that ended his career. Both were hit by a deflected puck. Let’s pray that there is no permanent damage and that one of hockey’s really good guys gets back on the ice!!

Mario coplaining on a long distance call to Jags….-“All this rough stuff started when that Graves guy tapped me on the hand…four games then wasn’t enough”. ” Now my boy Cookie….I call him Cookie because he brings me cookies from his lovely wife…he gets 10 games plus for an eensy weensy elbow on a rookie no less…” Come on where is the justice after 17 years”? “I think that Colie guy is getting back at me for that ruffian Graves pre-mediated attack on my padless gloved hand”

Detroit must be pissed it couldn’t pick up the extra point after all that effort to battle back, but they should be more upset that they only played 25 minutes and weren’t anywhere to be found in the first 40.

I suppose it doesn’t matter much to them. They basically have the #2 spot in the West all but locked up.

Orr, did you read fran’s suggestion from earlier today? We need a “sacrificial lamb” from the minors to come up and cheap shot him. He suggested that the Rangers possibly call up a scrub AHL goon (someone like Soryal?) the next time they play the Pens with Cooke in the lineup with the sole purpose of trying to injure Cooke! It has to be someone who can take one for the team and be suspended for the good of the NYR. It would restore lost honor!

Eye for an eye! That is apparently the only way he’ll learn!! How many times can you suspend a guy? I hate him too!

Kevin weeks, on NHL – on the fly, just said in essence – Cooke too scared to actually fight his own battles… Others have fight his battles for him…. Basically called him a girlie-man, albeit a dirty one at that…